1/3/13 1:34 PM EST

Hope everyone enjoyed the congressional recess.

The long march through Christmas and New Year’s Day to complete the fiscal cliff negotiations already took away any semblance of a vacation for lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill. But the break between the 112th Congress and the 113th Congress turned out not to be long enough to grab a cup of coffee.

The 112th Congress was gaveled to a close – sine die, the official term – at 11:56:02 am, according to the House Clerk’s office.

Four minutes later at noon, the 113th Congress started. Within 90 minutes, John Boehner was re-elected as House speaker.

The leadership schism reflected a general split in the House GOP conference, in which 151 Republicans voted against the deal and 85 GOPers voted for it.

"[Cantor] was disappointed with the bill that passed the Senate late last night," said Doug Heye, Cantor's deputy chief of staff. "That's why you saw him working all day to find an alternative with the leadership. That's why you saw two conference meetings to deal with what all alternatives may be" out there.

McCarthy aides declined to vote on the reasons for his opposition.

House Republicans spent most of the day behind closed-doors, debating the possibility of amending the compromise fiscal cliff deal to add more spending cuts before sending the bill back to the Senate. That move likely would have resulted in no resolution at all and allowed tax rates for all Americans to go up. Ultimately, the Republicans decided not to amend the bill, which will impose tax hikes for families with incomes above $450,000.

In those closed-door meetings, Cantor expressed unhappiness with the bill, but did not go so far as to endorse amending the legislation.

12/31/12 6:16 PM EST

In a closed-door New Year’s Eve conference meeting Monday evening, House Republicans were told to not stray far from the Capitol even as Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told lawmakers he believes President Barack Obama is ready to go over the cliff.

“The Speaker said what’s been painfully obvious to us for a long time: the President wants to go over the fiscal cliff and he’s going to get his way,” said Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas).

There was little optimism within the GOP ranks that an actual agreement could be reached as the midnight deadline approaches. Republican leadership did not go over details emerging from a tentative deal between Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden.

“The Speaker has taken an approach that this is up to the Senate and there’s no point in us speculating, and talking about things until the Senate acts,” said Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.)

But Meehan did add that it was noted in the meeting Biden and McConnell were able to come close to an agreement “within hours” — while the President has been “slow-walking” a deal.

Others left the meeting just plain frustrated that they were yet again stuck in Washington trying to fix a crisis at the last minute.

“We’re extremely disappointed. There was no need for this drama on New Year’s Ever because the House completed its work last August,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) “[This] is a cynical attempt on the part of the President to ensure that he has complete Democrat control, House of Representatives and Senate, in the final term.”

“This is disgusting for everybody involved” said Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio). “I think we have to have some spending cuts and the fact that the President won’t challenge his party on spending cuts is disgusting, the fact that we’re not where we need to be on the revenues is disgusting…and it’s just disgusting.”

Tennessee Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander pitched a plan on Friday to cut federal spending by $1 trillion — much of it from Medicare — in exchange for increasing the nation's borrowing limit by that amount. The plan would raise the Medicare eligibly age to 67 and require wealthier Medicare users to pay higher premiums. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has estimated extraordinary measures can push the necessity of Congress addressing the debt ceiling until perhaps February.

“Here we are on Dec. 29 without a serious proposal before us to deal with the biggest issue, which is entitlements,” Corker said. “There’s been a lot of discussions about figuring out a way to deal with the … revenue side and at least getting that portion out of the way. Since we know it’s going to happen either before the 31st or after.”

Both of the senators said too much of the talk in Washington has centered on income tax rates and where the tax hike cutoff should be for upper income earners. But after that is solved, they hope to use the debt ceiling as leverage to deal with Medicare spending, which Corker estimated will be insolvent by 2024.

The proposal looks to be a nonstarter among Democrats, who will likely bristle at attempts to use the debt ceiling to extract spending cuts, especially on entitlements. President Barack Obama has said he will not negotiate with Republicans over the debt limit.

Both senators were aware of how their plan might be seen by the public, and Corker corrected a reporter who posited the plan equals Medicare “cuts,” preferring instead the word “reforms.”

“This will sound unpopular. This is bad medicine for many people. But it is part of what we are supposed to do,” Alexander said. “If we can enlist the president in an effort to solve the one remaining piece of the budget agreement we need … he’ll take the leadership on finding a way to make Medicare solvent so 11 years from now seniors don’t start falling over the fiscal cliff.”

12/28/12 12:52 PM EST

Using a miniature version of a Times Square Ball as a prop, Sen. Tom Harkin urged Republicans Friday not to "drop the ball" on the middle class by allowing the country to go off the so-called fiscal cliff.

The Iowa Democrat said at a press conference that if the country goes over the fiscal cliff, members of Congress won’t be the ones who suffer.

“We’re not going to be hurt! We won’t even feel it!,” exclaimed Harkin, adding that the ones who will be harmed most are people on unemployment insurance, and food stamps as well as minimum wage workers.

Harkin was joined onstage by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of the social justice lobby NETWORK. They stood before a small balloon version of the Times Square Ball hanging above a sign that read, “Republicans: don’t drop the ball on the middle class.”

Demonstrators holding yellow signs carrying the same message congregated behind the congressmen, punctuating their speeches with shouts of agreement.

Harkin accused Republicans of holding the country hostage by refusing to compromise and raise taxes on the wealthy to solve the nation's financial problems. He called the fiscal cliff a crisis “manufactured” by the Republicans, who refuse to ask the wealthy to give their “fair share.”

“I was pleased to have my family here with me,” Schatz said in brief comments after he was sworn in. And “of course, we’re hopeful to get right to work on averting the fiscal cliff.”

Despite his relative youth — he's 40 — and being newly sworn in, Schatz will be Hawaii’s senior senator. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) is retiring and will be replaced by Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who is set to be sworn in next week when the 113th Congress begins.

12/22/12 8:15 PM EST

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday urged Hawaii's governor to appoint a successor to the late Sen. Daniel Inouye before the new year so the state is "fully represented" for a possible vote to avert the fiscal cliff.

Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie plans to appoint a replacement before Jan. 3, when the new Congress is sworn in. But the urgency of Reid's request, before Inouye is even laid to rest, suggests he'll need every vote he can muster for a post-Christmas effort to stave off the massive tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit next month.

Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat and the Senate's most senior member, died Monday of respiratory complications at the age of 88.

"With the passing of my dear friend Senator Daniel Inouye, I have asked the governor of Hawaii to appoint Senator Inouye's successor with due haste," Reid said in a statement Saturday evening. "It is critically important to ensure that the people of Hawaii are fully represented in the pivotal decisions the Senate will be making before the end of the year."

Hawaii Democratic Party leaders have decided to meet sooner to pick the names of three finalists to submit to the governor, Chairman Dante Carpenter told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Rather than 5 p.m. Friday, party officials will meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the day after Christmas.

Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, Inouye's preferred successor, remains the front-runner. If she is appointed and sworn in before Jan. 3, she will become the senior senator from Hawaii and make history as the Aloha State's first female senator and the upper chamber's first Asian-American woman and Buddhist.

Otherwise, fellow Democratic Rep. Mazie Hirono, who won election last month to replace retiring Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka, would have that distinction, something POLITICO explored in a story earlier this week.

12/20/12 12:57 PM EST

We were all waiting for it: Someone finally cracked a “Plan B” joke on Thursday.

Plan B informally refers to Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) fiscal cliff proposal, which would extend current tax rates for income up to $1 million. But Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) joked Thursday that she believed the Ohio Republican was referring to the emergency contraceptive pill.

“Well, I actually got really excited when I heard Speaker Boehner talking about Plan B because I thought finally, they’ve made progress on a really important women’s health issue that I’ve been working on,” Murray said to loud laughter. “But that was not the case.”

12/20/12 11:29 AM EST

The Senate has an official return date post-Christmas: Dec. 27.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said his chamber will return on the Thursday after Christmas to deal with major issues lingering on Capitol Hill -- the most pressing being how to avert the fiscal cliff. Time is winding down rapidly until the year-end deadline to avoid the massive tax and spending changes that will take effect absent congressional action.

"A lot of things are going on here, and people need to understand that we have things to do," Reid said on the Senate floor. "We want to be able to get home for a few days for Christmas, even though we will be back on the Thursday after Christmas."

The House is sticking around too.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Thursday that leadership won’t send members home after Thursday’s votes.

“We do not intend to send members home after this vote. We intend to stay here. We intend to avoid the fiscal cliff,” Cantor told reporters.

12/19/12 1:59 PM EST

House Democratic leaders are urging their members to unite against Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Two tax votes in the House could comes as early as Thursday. The first would extend current tax rates for income $250,000 and below. The House Democrats’ whip operation is telling lawmakers to support that plan.

The second is the so-called “Plan B,” which would keep the rates for income up to $1 million. House Democratic leaders are calling for a “no” vote on that plan.

If House Democrats uniformly oppose the GOP proposal, Boehner (R-Ohio) would have little room for defections among his Republican conference. And his members are facing pressure from conservative groups such as Club for Growth and Heritage Action, who are also calling on lawmakers to oppose the plan.

In a blog post on ATR’s website, the group states that a vote for Plan B, which could come up as early as Thursday, will not be a violation of the pledge.

“This legislation — popularly known as “Plan B”— permanently prevents a tax increase on families making less than $1 million per year. Republicans supporting this bill are this week affirming to their constituents in writing that this bill — the sole purpose of which is to prevent tax increases — is consistent with the pledge they made to them. In ATR’s analysis, it is extremely difficult — if not impossible—to fault these Republicans’ assertion.”

ATR argues that because House Republicans have “already voted twice to prevent any tax increases on any American” and because the bill “contains no tax increases of any kind” it would not be a pledge violation. Boehner’s bill permanently extends the Bush tax cuts for those who make less than $1 million, and would simply let taxes go up for those above that threshold by letting them expire.

President Barack Obama has said he will veto the Plan B bill should it reach his desk.

“The Heritage Foundation explains that such a ‘maneuver succeeds only if the House Republican leadership permits it.’ Moreover, decoupling the 2001- and 2003-era tax rates would ‘constitute a clear path toward surrender on conservative principles,’” they added. ”Taking money out of the private sector to fund the public sector is not only misguided, it is counterproductive.”

12/18/12 3:19 PM EST

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday endorsed House Speaker John Boehner’s so-called “Plan B” to avert the fiscal cliff, a proposal that raises tax rates on income over $1 million but extends lower rates for 98 percent of Americans.

But Majority Leader Harry Reid said Boehner’s proposal was dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

“I certainly support not raising taxes on 98 percent of taxpayer. I also don’t support raising taxes on any tax payers,” McConnell told reporters after meeting with his 47-member Republican conference. “The Senate conference has largely been unified on that for some time.”

Pressed again about the Boehner plan, McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, replied: “I can’t imagine that I would not be supportive of a proposal that had permanent tax reductions for a substantial portion of American tax-paying public. My own view would be not to raise taxes on anyone.”

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said Boehner’s Plan B was not a serious proposal and that Republicans were once again “walking away” from negotiations to solve the nation’s fiscal crisis.

“Every time we get down to doing something for the long-term financial security of this country, they take that football and it’s a Charlie Brown episode. They jerk the ball away,” Reid told reporters. “This is what they’re doing again.”

If the GOP-led House does pass Plan B, the Senate will look at “a number of different alternatives,” Reid said.

“Speaker Boehner’s proposal is not balanced, will not protect the middle class because it can’t pass the Senate,” he said. “We believe people making less than $250,000 shouldn’t’ have to bear the burden of all these problems fiscally.”